Music you've never heard….'til now! A blog of rare, hardly-heard or remembered pop, hip-hop, R&B, freestyle and dance music from the 80s and 90s. From one-hit wonders to no-hit wonders, this blog has it all!!

Saturday, March 26, 2011

Artz & Kraftz were an R&B from the '90s that consisted of Antonio Moore, Mitchell Lewis and Shamgar Grey.

In 1988, they released their debut single "Burning Love" on Profile Records. It's unknown how or if it made the charts at all.

In 1990, Artz & Kraftz appeared on the soundtrack to the Kid n' Play film "House Party" with the tracks "Surely" and "What a Feeling" (which was released as a single). According to allmusic.com, their first album "Beginning of an Era" was released, but I can't seem to find any further information about it.

In 1993, Artz & Kraftz released their second album "The Experience" on Columbia Records. It's unknown how or if the album charted.

The only single released from the album "All of It" managed to peak at #21 on Billboard's Bubbling Under Hot R&B Singles chart.

After that, it seemed as they had faded into obscurity. Not much has been heard from Artz & Kraftz since the '90s.

Jordy (born Jordy Lemoine on January 14, 1988 in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Yvelines, France) is a male French singer who became the youngest singer ever to have a #1 single at only 4 years old.

His parents are record producer Claude Lemoine and former singer-songwriter, Patricia Clerget. After Claude tried to involve Jordy in television ads for nappies where the baby should repeat "hard, hard to be wet," Claude came up with the idea of using dance music and simple lyrics to create a catchy song.

The song received positive reception in discotheques which convinced him to release it as a commercial single.Jordy's first single, "Dur dur d'être bébé!" (or "It's Tough to Be a Baby" in English) was released in September of 1992.

By October, the song topped the French SNEP Singles Chart, making him the youngest singer to ever reach the top of a singles charts as listed in the Guinness Book of World Records.

The song also topped the charts in Belgium, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Greece, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Korea, Indonesia, the Ivory Coast, Mexico, and Argentina. When the single was released in the US a year later, it managed to peak at #58 on the Billboard Hot 100.Jordy released his debut album, "Pochette Surprise" [or "Surprise Package" in English]. The album peaked at #7 on the SNEP Albums Chart in France and by 1993, it was certified 2x Platinum, selling over 600,000 copies.

He released two more singles, "Alison" and "Les Boules," but it's unknown how or if those singles ever charted.
In 1994, Jordy released his second album, "Potion Magique" which consisted mostly of Christmas songs. It's unknown how or if the album was successful, but it didn't appear to match the success of his debut album.

He released the singles, "It's Christmas, C'est Noel" and "Love Love Dance," but it's unknown how they charted.

Then, there were some disturbing allegations that he was being exploited for commercial gain and Jordy's music was banned from television & radio for his own good.
Under the ban, Jordy's third album, "Récréation" went nowhere, failing to appear on any music charts at all.

The only single released from the album "Coolman" was released, but it's unknown if it charted or not. In 1996, his parents opened up a children's tourist attraction called La Ferme de Jordy (or Jordy's Farm), but it suffered from financial difficulties and was eventually shut down.

Jordy's parents later divorced and Jordy became legally emancipated, living on a farm near Caen for the rest of his teenage years, studying dance and drumming.

In 2005, he appeared on a popular French reality show called "La Ferme Des Célébrités" and published his own book called "Je ne suis plus un bébé" [or "I'm Not a Baby Anymore" in English] in which he accused his father of spending most of the royalties he made that he should've gotten when he turned 18 years old.In 2006, Jordy released a new single called "Je T'apprendrai." These days, he is currently in a band called Jordy & the Dixies. They continue to tour and release music.

Saturday, March 19, 2011

Eternal was a female English R&B group that consisted of sisters Easther & Vernie Bennett, Kelle Bryan (born on March 12, 1975 in Lewisham, London, England) and Louise Nurding (born on November 4, 1974 in Lewisham, London, England).

When Kelle Bryan was 11 years old, she joined the Italia Conti Academy stage school, completing eight years of performing arts and she was qualified as a dance teacher.

Before Eternal, Kelle worked as an actress, appearing on ITV's "The Bill" and appearing on the hit BBC show, "EastEnders" in 1992. On her first day at Italia Conti, she met Louise Nurding and became close friends.

One night, when 16-year-old Kelle and Louise were illegally clubbing one night, they met record producer Denis Ingoldsby, who was starting a girl group. By 1993, Kelle, Louise, Easther, and Vernie formed Eternal.On September 20, 1993, Eternal released their debut single, "Stay" which peaked at #4 on the UK Singles chart.

When the single was released in the US in March of 1994, it peaked at #19 on the Billboard Hot 100, #9 on Billboard's Rhythmic Top 40, #13 on Billboard's R&B chart, #12 on Billboard's Hot Dance Music\Club Play chart, #33 on Billboard's Hot Dance Music\Maxi-Singles Sales chart, and #11 on Billboard's Top 40 Mainstream.

The song was also successful in Australia, peaking at #3 on the ARIA charts and topped the charts in Japan.On November 29, 1993, Eternal released their debut album, "Always & Forever." The album peaked at #2 on the UK Albums chart and was certified 4x Platinum by the BPI, selling over 1.2 million copies.

When the album was released in the US in 1994, it peaked at #152 on the Billboard 200, #59 on Billboard's R&B Albums chart, and #5 on Billboard's Heatseekers album chart.Eternal's second single, "Save Our Love" peaked at #8 on the UK Singles chart for 7 weeks and #20 on the Irish Singles chart.Their third single, "Just a Step From Heaven" also peaked at #8 on the UK Singles chart, spending 10 weeks on the chart and #26 on the Irish Singles chart.The group's fourth single, "So Good" peaked at #13 on the UK Singles chart, making it the first of Eternal's three singles to miss the Top 10 on the UK Singles chart.Eternal's fifth single, "Oh Baby I" peaked at #4 on the UK Singles chart and #11 on the Irish Singles chart. The song spent 7 weeks in the UK Top 20 and #13 weeks on the UK Top 75 chart.

The song was certified Silver by the BPI on January 1, 1995, with sales over 200,000 within the UK.The last single released from the album, "Crazy" peaked at #15 on the UK Singles chart and #23 on the Irish Singles chart.

This was the only single where all members of Eternal sang lead vocals. (Usually, it was Easther Bennett singing lead vocals).

Another song from Eternal's debut album, "Sweet Funky Thing" peaked at #54 on Billboard's R&B charts in the US. It's unknown how much airplay the song got in the UK.

Eternal was named "Best Group" at the Smash Hits Poll Winners Party and were nominated for 4 Brit awards. By 1995, Louise left the group to pursue her solo music career.In 1995, Eternal released their sophomore album, "Power of a Woman" which peaked at #5 on the UK Albums chart.The first single, the title song peaked at #5 on the UK Singles chart, #19 on the Irish Singles chart, #8 on the ARIA Charts, and #1 in Japan.

The song was also moderately successful in the Netherlands and Israel. Eternal scored yet another #1 hit in Japan with the single, "Who Are You."Eternal's second single from the album, "I Am Blessed" peaked at #7 on the UK Singles chart and was certified Silver.

The song also peaked at #7 on the Irish Singles chart, #14 on the ARIA Charts, and #29 in the Netherlands.A remixed version of "Good Thing" peaked at #8 on the UK Singles chart. The song became their 7th Top 10 single on the UK Singles chart.In 1996, Eternal contributed the theme song to the Disney movie, "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" soundtrack, "Someday" which peaked at #4 on the UK Singles chart. Another single, "Secrets" peaked at #9 on the UK Singles chart.In 1997, Eternal released their third album, "Before the Rain" which peaked at #3 on the UK Albums chart and was certified Platinum, selling over 300,000 copies.The single, "Don't You Love Me" peaked at #3 on the UK Singles chart and was moderately successful in Australia & Ireland.Eternal scored their first and only #1 hit with the last single from the album, "I Wanna Be the Only One" featuring gospel singer BeBe Winans.

The song was successful internationally and even certified Gold in Australia & Switzerland. It was also the 3rd most played song on British radio and the most played song on European radio by a UK act in 1997.

The song even earned Eternal a a MOBO Award and a Capital FM Award for "Best Single." It was also nominated for "Best Single" at the BRIT Awards.When Eternal released their greatest hits album during that same year, Kelle Bryan was controversially kicked out of the group by the Bennett sisters via fax from their solicitor due to "a breakdown in professional communications."

Soon after, Kelle signed a record deal with Mercury Records and began to work on her solo debut album.

She scored a moderate hit on the UK charts with the song, "Higher Than Heaven," but when Kelle was diagnosed with lupus, she decided to leave the label, leaving her debut album unreleased.One of the singles from Eternal's greatest hits album, "Angel of Mine" peaked at #4 on the UK Singles chart.

In the US in 1998, R&B singer Monica covered "Angel of Mine" which topped the Billboard Hot 100. Easther and Vernie recruited a new member, TJ, who later left after a matter of days.In 1999, Eternal released their last self-titled album which peaked at #87 on the UK Albums chart.They released only one single, "What'cha Gonna Do" which peaked at #16 on the UK Singles chart.

Three more singles: "Treat Me Like a Lady," "I Cry Real Tears," and "If She Breaks Your Heart" were scheduled to be released, but the plans were cancelled due to the Bennett sisters deciding it was time to move on to other projects. In 2000, Eternal parted ways with their record label.

While Kelle concentrated on recovering from lupus, she did some various projects and even launched a management company, Red Hot Entertainment.

In 2004, she starred on a celebrity edition of "The Weakest Link." She was also a contestant in the reality show, "Love Island 2006," starred in the music comedy, "The X-tra Factor," and starred in the film, "A Heart Divided." Since 2005, Kelle has been performing in 6 pantomines.

Louise Nurding scored a string of Top 10 singles and albums in the UK along with doing various projects. In 1998, she married football player, Jamie Redknapp.

Louise has also presented a few television shows such as "SMTV Live," "CD:UK," "The Clothes Show," "Something for the Weekend," and the UK version of "So You Think You Can Dance."

In 2004, Louise gave birth to her first son, Charles "Charley" William Redknapp and in 2008, she gave birth to her second son, Beau Henry Redknapp.

As for the Bennett sisters, Easther partnered up with reggae music band, Aswad to record a cover version of Diana King's "Shy Guy" in 2002, but she is now a songwriter, writing songs for various artists such as Girls Aloud.

Vernie went back to studying law after Eternal split up and in 2006, she gave birth to her first child. In August of 2010, she signed to ASM Artist Management.

Eric C was a male R&B artist from the mid-90's. Not much information is given about him, but he only released one album.In 1995, he released the single, "I Got the Flava" on Scotti Bros. Records. It's unknown how or if the single ever charted. After that, it seems as if Eric C has faded into obscurity.

Friday, March 4, 2011

NKRU (which stands for Naughty Kreations R Unifed) were a female hip-hop\R&B quartet from the early 90's that consisted of members Jennifer Dial, Scjuan O'Neal, Antonne Broussard and Kellie Weaver.

Not much information is given about them, but they were signed to the Kyper Records label on RCA Records.In 1993, they released a cover version of Zapp's "Computer Love" which peaked at #55 on Billboard's Hot R&B Singles chart, staying on the chart for 10 weeks.

Another single, "Sies Nueve" was released, but didn't appear to make the charts at all. NKRU were planning on releasing their debut album, "Freaky To You," but from what I've discovered, it was never released.

After that, it seemed as if NKRU faded into obscurity. Their whereabouts are unknown.

Strawberri (born in 1978 in Brooklyn, New York) was a female R&B singer from the 90's. Not much information is given about her, but she was signed to East Pointe Records.In 1998, Strawberri released her debut single, "Saddle You Up" which peaked at #122 on Billboard's Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart and #59 on Billboard's Hot Black Singles chart, staying on the chart for 18 weeks.

A year later in 1999, Strawberri released her one and only debut album "Nothing Better" which didn't appear to peak at all on the charts.

The follow-up single, "Secret" peaked at #96 on Billboard's Hot R&B\Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks chart, staying on the chart for only 5 weeks. After that, it seemed as if Strawberri has faded into obscurity. Nothing much has been heard from her since.

New Born (born Sammy Stanford Jr from Philadelphia, Pennyslvania) is a hip-hop rapper who started out in the music biz when he was only 7 years old. He is also gifted in dancing and playing the drums.

He was discovered by music producer Jeff Steinberg. His father, Sam Stanford (who worked in the car detailing business) took Steinberg to see New Born and his siblings perform. He was offered a record deal with Arista Records, but the family decided to sign to a smaller record label.

In 1993, he released his debut single, "Falling in Love" which managed to peak at #97 on the Billboard Hot 100.

His siblings Keisha & Mike provided background vocals on the song and Mike also played bass guitar on the song as well. Keisha also played keyboard on the song as well.

After that, nothing much had been heard from New Born, but according to a YouTube comment I received from Sam Stanford Sr, New Born is now MIF (which stands for Music Industry Finest) and is still active in the music biz.